A memo released by White House Office of Management and Budget controller Danny Werfel advises federal agencies to apply extra scrutiny to hiring new employees and handing out bonuses as a precaution should sequestration cuts take place.

Specifically, the memo advises extra scrutiny be applied to:

Hiring new personnel

Issuing discretionary monetary awards to employees, which should occur only if legally required until further notice

According to Werfel’s memo, “In light of the reduced budgetary resources available due to sequestration, expending funds on these activities at this time would in many circumstances not be the most effective way to protect agency mission to the extent practicable. Therefore, agency leadership should review processes and controls around these activities, and ensure that these activities are conducted only to the extent they are the most cost-effective way to maintain critical agency mission operations under sequestration.”